SEGA Tunes: Hideki Naganuma brings The Concept of Love to Ollie King

While SEGA’s arcade skateboarding title Ollie King is often given Smilebit credit, as mentioned in our kick-off retrospective, the title is still very much an Amusement Vision game. Still, given the Smilebit talent involved in Ollie King‘s creation, I can easily see why people make the mistake. Hell, I thought the game was a Smilebit arcade game until I played it for the first and only time at a GameWorks in Schaumburg, Illinois back in 2005 and saw that “AV” logo. While Ollie King‘s art style and graphics are very much in the same style as Smilebit’s JSRF, and what really pushes the Smilebit feel over the edge is the incredible soundtrack from SEGA music veteran Hideki Naganuma. Not only does the game feature original tracks including pulse-pounders like “Boarder 70”, “Let It Go”, and “Too Fast”, slower celebrative tracks like “Funk to the Top”, as well as the lovingly wacky “Brother Goes Away”, the game also features two remixes of original tracks from Jet Set Radio Future!
The first of these, seen above, is “The Concept of Love (The Concept of Passion Mix)” which adds a whole new dimension to the already awesome track. The second, found below, is a favorite of mine. “Teknopathetic (e-Pop ‘n’ Disco 80’s Mix)” is exactly what it says, a disco mix of JSRF‘s “Teknopathetic”. “Teknopathetic” has always been a favorite of mine from not only JSRF, but from the franchise as a whole, so to hear a disco version is truly a delight. I’ve always found “Teknopathetic” to be a track that can put me on edge (in a good way), so to hear a version that shifts the tone to a more mellow vibe is a nice complement to the original.